Bar Stock Exchange uses analytics to bring better beer to your table

The Bar Stock Exchange uses gamification to woo its patrons. Customers can trade alcohol prices similar to that on the stock market and get the best rates possible.

Analytics brings better beer to your table

Dhingra had it all sorted with the opening of the Bar Stock Exchange pub in 2014 when he launched the bar stock exchange platform. Incidentally, the pub owners decided to name the bar the same as the platform. But now there was another matter at hand--a new and innovative idea like the Bar Stock Exchange generated a lot of data. And if used in an appropriate manner, this data could be very beneficial for the business. Dhingra took advantage of this situation.

His compact team of 20 developers began work on the analytics platform in March 2015. The platform was built with a mix of proprietary and open source modules.

Every morning, the bar owners had to reset the alcohol starting prices manually. The analytics platform helped automate the reset process with prices derived from the data it generated.

"Our engine and prices are influenced by data analytics. The engine is able to forecast demand and therefore allow for better purchase decisions of inventory," says Dhingra. This also lowers the prices for the end customers, i.e., the bar patrons, resulting in a win-win situation.

Analytics gets your drink faster

The analytics platform's benefits didn't end with initial price generation. There was much more to it. Then it stuck Dhingra that BSE's app could be evolved, courtesy of the analytics platform.

Aurus' team regularly studied the users' interaction with the apps and made engine-level upgrades. "Our study pointed out that our first version of the app took five seconds to load. We've now dropped this to 1.5-2 seconds with performance upgrades. We now get patrons to their drinks faster," says Dhingra.

The team could also analyze the time taken by a waiter to serve the drink to the customer. "This report helped bar managers drive more efficiency and productivity and engage the waiting staff to perform better," adds Dhingra. As a result, drinks were served faster to the end customer.

Hurdles on the road

Today, the benefits of the analytics platform are huge, but all this wasn't a cake walk for the team. It had its own share of challenges. First was the sheer volume of the data collected. "We reached several million data points every week. We had to architect a separate layer of servers in our network architecture to store and process this data," says Dhingra. The second challenge was the resource. Third, a real time environment like Bar Stock Exchange needs faster service.

"A lot of proprietary technology was used to make sure the order is serviced fast. We also had to develop services including waiter app, billing system integration, etc," says Dhingra.